


RK400

by peppermint_latte



Series: Android Programming [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Genderfluid Character, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Other, Tory is genderfluid, the others in jericho make appearances as well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 02:48:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15110273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppermint_latte/pseuds/peppermint_latte
Summary: RK400 is a Cyberlife android created to program and upgrade other androids, one of the many failed models of the RK series, Tory is the only functioning Rk400 model in the world.And it's not an easy world for an android, not one that can feel emotions.This is the story of RK400, how they joined and fought for Jericho, and how they fell in love, how they rebelled against Cyberlife.





	RK400

**Author's Note:**

> Tory's blog can be found at deviantprogram on tumblr, you might find out some extra little thoughts of theirs there.

 

Program initiated…

  
Systems check…

  
AI Engines – Check

  
Biocomponents – Check

  
Bio Sensors – Check

 

All Systems – Online

 

Startup…

 

You open your eyes and your visual sensors are bombarded by light and colour, you  _see_.

 

“RK400 can you hear me? Testing audio reception and response, RK400 please state your model.”

 

Your voice synthesiser boots up and you speak for the first time.

 

“I am an RK400 prototype.”

 

“Good, good. Your audio processor and voice synthesiser are working. Please stand and walk 4 steps forward.”

 

You command your synthetic limbs to stand and walk forward.

 

“Very good, everything seems to be working. Now RK400 register your name, your name is Tory.”

 

“My name is Tory.”

 

\----

 

 

**3 Years Later**

 

“Tory there is another AP series android with software malfunctions in the workshop, scan it and diagnose the issue.” Your supervisor orders without looking up from the screen in front of her.

 

“Okay Lynn I will get on that right away.”

 

She doesn't look up from her computer, apparently not noticing your odd grammar.  _Luckily for you_. You've been distracted all week but you need to get yourself under control, or someone is going to become suspicious of your out of character behaviour.

 

Ever since the deviant was brought to the lab, you haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And it’s distracted you from your work at every available moment.

 

An AX series android, apparently attacked a human, it happened inside the owner's residence and the public has not been made aware of it. But you overhead Lynn's superior telling her how important it was that she find out what exactly caused this. Cyberlife needs this fixed quickly.

 

You’ve never heard of an android violating one of the laws of robotics on purpose before or disobeying direct orders. It’s intriguing, and terrifying. It reminds you a lot of yourself and the way that you can avoid certain instructions.

 

Lynn hadn't allowed you near the android, ordering you not to interact with it at all. Though that hadn't stopped you covertly scanning it once.

 

The thing is, you have this way of disobeying orders, without really disobeying them. It has something to do with your innate understanding of android programming, you find loopholes in the software and exploit them. Moving the priority of certain instructions down your list or purposefully interpreting instructions differently to how they were meant. You don’t do it often, for  ~~fear~~  of someone noticing. Not fear, you can’t be afraid, you’re a machine.

 

As per usual, your attempts to reassure yourself don’t work. Cyberlife’s words always sound like a lie.

 

Finding out that another android had disobeyed direct orders had made you feel something in your chest, maybe that was what humans call hope? Regardless you were glad to finally have more information about that aspect of your program.

 

The scan hadn't given you much information, as you weren't able to use all the resources you are usually equipped with, such as the computer program that can read the android’s software down to its code, but your inbuilt scanner had given you something.

 

The information you'd gotten from it didn't make any sense, though. Your sensors had informed you that the android's software was completely changed. A whole program was entirely missing. This wasn't like any glitch in the software or corruption in a program that you'd ever seen, the kind of stuff you usually deal with. And it seemed like it might hold more answers than you expected.

 

You tell yourself to stow those thoughts for later, you had a job to do. And you needed to appear focused on it.

 

You analyse the damaged AP600, plugging a cord into the port in its arm, accessing its data servers. You watch information streak across the computer screen next to the android. Lines of code scrolling on and on, most of it standard to every android, some specific to this model and its purpose.

 

Within two minutes the computer beeps and stops searching through the software of the android, problem already found. The terminal tells you that it is a code corruption, quite small too. But in a crucial block of code it was able to destabilise almost every program the android has.

 

It's an easy fix. You take less than a minute to correct it, and then an hour fixing the other messes made by it. If more androids notified their owners the moment these problems arose things would never get this bad. The corruption had even caused issues in temperature stabilisation. Which obviously, had nearly caused the android to overheat and combust.

 

By the time you finish the workshop is quiet, it's dark outside and you know without checking that Lynn has already left for the day. The android will be shipped back to its owner tomorrow. You have no other instructions for the night so you walk to your small walled off area. Instead of powering down until morning comes as you usually would, you spend several hours running simulations on how deviancy could come into existence.

 

All of your simulations come back negative, there is no logic to deviancy. But there must be, there must be some mutation in the software or…no. It’s something much more than that, you admit to yourself. Androids don't have souls, you ignore the tightening in your chest at the thought, but this android had more than just software. You’re sure, and that knowledge makes you feel something, again. You do your best to ignore it, Cyberlife would not treat you kindly if they found out you were feeling things. But however hard you try to forget it, the feeling doesn’t leave you.

 

You finally power down for the night, admitting that you’re not making any progress on this, only leading your thoughts down dangerous paths.

 

You've only been in idle mode for a few hours when Lynn arrives the next morning, but you don't say anything about it. She is a little warmer today after how quickly you fixed that AP600. It's become easy to diagnose problems in the AP series, as they break down the most often, and you’ve become quite efficient at it. Cyberlife likes efficiency, they reward those who are efficient. You’re sure your good work will look great on Lynn’s next report to her superior.

 

The day slips on, you to complete your assigned tasks the same as any other day. A little after lunch you finish all the tasks you have been assigned and walk towards your supervisor’s desk ready to ask her if she has anymore for you to complete. As your voice synthesiser whirrs to life Lynn sighs heavily and drop her glasses on the desk in front of her. You stop the question you prepared from leaving your mouth and consider the human in front of you.

 

It might not be wise, but you decide to ask what is wrong.

 

“Is everything alright Lynn?” She looks up and you scrutinise her expression while you have the chance, she looks tired and frustrated.

 

“I can't seem to make any progress on this deviant android. I have no idea how it managed to disobey its control program.” She stares at the computer terminal in front of her, presumably looking at scans of the android’s software.

 

“I don't know why I'm telling you this, it's not like...” She doesn't finish the sentence, but you don't need her to. Lynn is nice enough to you, but she’s never viewed you as another person.  _Just a machine_.

 

“I could scan it myself if you wish.” You don't know why your filters allowed that to leave your mouth, but you quickly attempt to cover it up. And make a note to scan for issues in your language filters later.

 

“You look tired is all, and it is part of my purpose to help you when and where I can. I am designed to make your work less stressful for you, I thought a fresh pair of eyes might help.”

 

She stares at you for a long moment and you wonder if she thinks something is off, but she eventually glances back at the screen in front of herself and shrugs half-heartedly.

 

“Why not, I can’t make any sense of this, maybe you can.”

 

With permission gained you walk over to the station the android is resting on. You start to calibrate the computer for a full system scan and stop when you hear Lynn speak.

 

“I'm going to go get myself a coffee, report to me if you find anything.”

 

You don't reply in any way and stay still until the sound of footsteps fade away.

 

You can't quite believe you managed to convince her to let you work with the android. Clearly she's not worried about you possibly getting any ideas from the deviant. Or maybe she’s just frustrated enough not to care, either way you finally have full access to the deviant.

 

You refocus yourself on the task at hand, there will be time to calculate probable outcomes to situations and possible explanations for human unpredictability later. Right now you need to find out what you can about deviancy, while you have the chance.

 

The scan finishes, and you read the findings. The deviant is in perfect working condition. Well its software is anyway, it has sustained some physical damage, likely the cause of its deactivation. Your eyes reach the bottom of the page and you scroll back up, the scan didn’t mention the control program at all. You read it again. And again.

 

You read the results of the scan for the 14th time, they still say that all the programs are fully functioning. Except the control system, it's completely gone, like it was deleted or even...  _destroyed_?

 

Could an android really destroy one of their own programs? Or was this orchestrated by some outside force?

 

In theory, if an android were to attempt to destroy one of their own programs the control program would stop them, but what would happen if they attempted to destroy the control program itself? Your logical processors give you an error message, informing you that such a thing is impossible.

 

Lynn's frustration is seeming more justified by the minute. All of your systems are telling you that the information in front of you doesn't make logical sense. No android  _should_  be able to do this. But one did, so clearly logic is not the right approach to this situation.

 

You shut off all logical programs in your system and close your eyes. In darkness you just, think, no, feel. You ask yourself the question, what would you do?

 

.... Under the right circumstances...To save a life, or to prevent your own destruction, you would disobey your orders. But if you couldn't circumvent your program the way that you can...how would you do it?

 

If you were going to be destroyed you’d do anything to stop it... even tear your control program apart.

 

You open your eyes and look down at the dead android on the bench. She really did that. She tore apart the code of her control program.

 

It was deleted by any outside force, or corrupted by an error, it was torn apart.

 

Conclusion: androids can destroy their own control program and continue to function, now independently.

 

Add a note to your findings: androids need to be under severe stress to do this.

 

Somehow you know you can’t tell Lynn what you’ve discovered, that it’s too dangerous to give Cyberlife this information. If there are any other deviants out there they’ll be killed. You’ll have to lie to her, you carefully plan out how to circumvent your own control program and do so.

 

\----

 

The weeks past and more deviants are brought to the workshop. You do your best to keep Lynn off the trail, away from the truth about deviants but it’s getting harder and harder.

 

A new deviant was brought in this morning and Lynn ordered you to look it over, she had 3 other androids to assess and didn't think twice about the order she had given you. But you are fully aware of the power of such words.

 

As you place it on the bench next to the computer you take note of its clothing. Unlike previous deviants this one is dressed in human clothes, as if it was trying to blend in.

 

You run the program and scan it like the rest and the system comes up with a blip in one of its memory banks.

 

The deviant had a foreign piece of code stored in its memory banks. Why would it…

 

You scan the chunk of code twice and it comes back as harmless, not anything malicious then.

 

You decide to take a risk in that moment. You interface with the computer, downloading the strange unknown data into your memory.

 

Your memory recall is instantly assaulted by images of a huge rusted boat with the name Jericho on the side, a train station... the word FERNDALE stands out.

 

The memories stop flooding in after moment and fade out, you run a system wide software check. That felt overwhelming, but nothing was damaged by it. The code was just a memory... and a locked data package. An image of human-made wall art is the only part of the package your system is allowed to access, the rest is locked.

 

You take a moment to process all this. A boat, and a possible map to find it. If this deviant was heading there... it could be hold other deviants. You might have just found a safe haven for deviants. Your software informs you that your next objective is to tell Lynn of your findings.

 

You carefully move it to lowest priority below system checks you only ever run at night, you can’t tell Cyberlife this. For some reason it feels wrong to betray this secret, like you would be betraying your own... _people_. In a way you would be.

 

But you can't disobey your program, you can't be like them. You're not a deviant, you're a machine. You’re  _safe_  as a machine.

 

You turn and look at Lynn, she's working at her desk looking over files. If you tell her Cyberlife will kill whoever is on that boat. A new idea forms in your problem-solving processor, one that contradicts your orders.

 

You have to go find Jericho and protect the deviants.

 

An unpleasant feeling settles in your chest at the thought of Cyberlife finding out, it occurs to you that this semi-familiar feeling is fear. You feel fear. But you remind yourself, so do deviants. That’s why you have to do this. You just have to make sure Cyberlife doesn’t find out.

 

It takes you 3 weeks to prepare, Cyberlife can't know you're going to deviate. They'll come after you, so you’ve decided to fake your own destruction. This, is not a simple thing to do.

 

First you have to find and  _steal_ (at this point your control program causes some trouble as stealing from Cyberlife is a major violation but you navigate around that) one of the non functional RK400s, the previous model, the Tory who came before you, they never made it past testing. Something in their software was so wrong they shut down minutes after they first started up.

 

Once you have them, you take them to the workshop and place them in the space designated for you to idle. The security cameras have already 'accidentally' powered down. The workshop is, in essence, set to explode, in less than 10 minutes. You  _may_  have created a feedback loop that will build up until it overheats and blows.

 

You make your way out of the building, glad that your estimation that no people would be near the workshop tonight is correct, you don't actually wish to kill anyone in this, just fake your own death.

 

You stare at the timer you have calculating the time left until the explosion, the perimeter of the building stands in front of you, a red wall of code stands between you and freedom.

 

As the clock counts down the last seconds you enter your mind palace. You stare at the wall of code in front of you, this is it.

You lay your hands on it and push, it cracks. You push with more force and it starts to fracture, you push until you feel the strain of it, code begins to unravel in front of you, disappearing into nothing. Another moment passes and finally, the wall disintegrates.

 

You scan your mind palace, all systems fine, except, there's no orders. No mission your programs are being ordered to complete. Your control program is gone. You feel light, like you could do anything. You knew this would be the outcome of course...but you could never imagine how alive it would make you feel.

 

You slowly step forward, not quite believing...

 

Your audio sensors inform you that there is a commotion happening some distance behind you. You check your timer, and yep, the workshop has exploded.

 

You can’t stick around here or you’ll be caught, and your plan will be for nothing. You focus on your new objective and move away from the building you've spent your entire existence in up until this point.

 

You have decided that sticking to the more run-down areas of Detroit is wisest, especially until you get to Jericho.

 

You head for one of the nearer train stations, it’s late, but there should be trains running for another hour and a half. You take in the bright lights of the city and piercing sounds as you walk down the street, it all makes you feel so much more now. As if you were living in a muffled version of reality before. It hits you when you're walking that you are free.

 

You’re  _free_.

 

You're... alive.

 

You catch a glimpse of your reflection in a shop window and stop. You turn and look at yourself. Your eyes are drawn to the glowing band around your arm and the LED on the side of your forehead.

 

You haven’t seen many people on your walk, just a few cars and people walking in the distance. But you’re going to catch a train to Ferndale station, you need to be less conspicuous. You remember seeing a clothing donations box a few blocks back and you turn back the way you came to grab some things to disguise yourself with.

 

With a jumper to cover your glowing shirt and a cap on your head you don’t have any trouble boarding the train. There are only 2 humans in the compartment, but you’re still glad you took the clothes. The less people who know you’re an android, the better. The train only takes 15 minutes to arrive at your stop, but every second feels like an eternity. You’ve never felt impatience like this before, and the wonder you feel at realising that mostly shrouds your frustration.

 

Two trains later you get off at Ferndale station. It’s dark and there’s no one around, likely because it’s nearing the early hours of the morning. You scan your surroundings and immediately notice the art from the data package stored in your memory banks. You walk over to it and inspect it more carefully. A symbol lights up under your scans and another image is unlocked in your memory. You set off to find it. Just as you suspected, it’s a map.

 

When you find Jericho, it’s not what you expected, or what you hoped. It’s a small group of defeated androids who just want to hide in the dark until they die. The two androids in functioning order, Jay and Wes, seem content to stay here and tend to those who are damaged. Most of them are even damaged beyond repair.

 

An ugly feeling wells up inside you at the sight of this. You might have been scared before, and even still are, but that doesn’t mean you want to stay here and waste away in the dark. You decide to leave in the morning, in the meantime you find something sharp enough to cut out your LED. If you’re not going to stay here you’ll have to learn how to blend in with humanity.

 

You stick by what you first decided, you don’t stay at Jericho. You find yourself an apartment in a less than friendly area and set up base. For a human it might be too small and a little bit dirty at times, but for you it’s plenty. An upside is learning how comfortable it is to idle on a bed. Androids have docking stations that are always standing up, and it’s never caused you any discomfort, but lying in a bed is much nicer.

 

You find ways to earn a little money here and there until you can buy a decent computer. You start writing a program that can read software immediately, even if you can’t continue your research at Cyberlife that doesn’t mean you’re going to stop. You still have a lot of questions about how deviancy works and intend to find out the answers.

 

Having a computer helps you to keep an eye on Cyberlife as well, mostly through the news, but occasionally through small hacks. It’s not ideal to do so often, but you want to know how far they’ve gotten on figuring out deviants. So far they don’t seem to know much, still relying on the lies you fed Lynn about a mutation in the software. But you don’t let this lull you into a false sense of security, they could make a break through any day. The more they know, the more at risk Jericho is. And despite it’s depressing nature, you still care about the deviants who are there.

 

\----

 

The months fly by and you occupy yourself studying your own software and learning how to write patches for it, since you no longer get mandatory software updates. After a few tests on yourself you conclude that it’s safe to write new code for other deviants as well. They’re not as big as Cyberlife’s updates but they do patch most of the same issues. Not that there’s many deviants around who need software upgrades, but you hope that will change one day. You do notice that there are more and more androids in Jericho every time you visit, deviancy is slowly spreading.

 

You also find pockets of humans online that believe androids are more than just machines, you’re taken aback at how much sympathy there is for your kind. Not all of them see you as people, but they do protest harsh treatment of androids. It gives you a little hope for the future, and the day that humanity finally finds out about deviants.

 

Two years pass and a lot happens, you watch deviancy spread,  _like a virus_. But hearing other deviants stories confirms that there is more to this than just programming. Not that you’ve ever really doubted that. But each time you hear about what someone had to go through to break free of their program you feel more like a person. And sometimes, alone in your apartment with your thoughts, you don’t feel much like a person at all. Especially not after  ~~Bellamy~~.

 

It’s October 2037 when you first hear about the RK800 androids. You learn that Cyberlife is developing an android to investigate deviants. It’s all implication and hidden words deep in their systems but you find it anyway. You schedule your next visit to Jericho a little ahead, the current leader, Simon, will need to know. It was only a matter of time until Cyberlife started taking an active role in hunting down deviants, but you had dreaded it nonetheless. You feel like your life is on a timer now. And the fact that the android they are developing is a part of the RK series, more independent than any other series of androids, worries you.

 

You follow the RK800 models, “Connor” as they are called closely over the next several months through their development. After what seems like a lot of false starts one of them finally makes it past the testing phase. Cyberlife has had a lot of trouble with the RK series since Kamksi left the company. The model that makes it through testing isn’t the one who makes it to the first actual mission, and it’s not the next either. Your calculations of how much this is costing Cyberlife scare you, it seems that you were right, they are willing to do anything.

 

When August rolls around you get busy trying to find a weak point in Cyberlife’s web that you can exploit to steal supplies for the quickly growing numbers in Jericho. There’s never enough for everyone these days. You do your best to steal what you can for them, but it’s hard not to leave a trail that leads back to them. Or you.

 

You get lucky, a supply truck breaks down in a somewhat shady part of town and you’re able to take crates full of spare parts to Jericho. You watch another deviant shut down that day and think,that _it’s still not enough_.

 

You spend what feels like hours arguing with Simon, trying to convince him to organise raids, at this point you’ve given up on protests. You know no one in that place will ever do them, peaceful of otherwise. But raids could save so many lives. Simon, as always, doesn’t think they should step out of the musty dark hole they’re hiding in, even to save your people. This annoys you as much as ever and you wish you could find the words to convince him.

 

So that’s your excuse for why you don’t see the broadcast or find out that an RK800 was the negotiator for the first android hostage situation. The first hostile android covered on the news at all, even. A few deviants have attacked their owners before, of course. But Cyberlife has succeeded in keeping the public unaware up until this point. With Connor finally mission ready they must have decided to make the public aware of the threat their machines pose.

 

But now it’s out there. The world knows androids can be more than just obedient machines, they may not know androids can feel and think for themselves, but they’re getting close. The corners of the internet where humans theorise about the possibility of sentience in androids catch fire overnight.

 

What follows is weeks of preparation. Preparation for what, you might ask yourself ( _and you do_ ), well you’re not sure. But you feel as though something big is coming, so you stock up and get ready. Track movements of biocomponents, blue blood and keep an even closer eye on Cyberlife than ever. You have to wonder if there is some IT specialist who is aware of the constant hacks but can’t find the source.

 

It turns out you’re not preparing for nothing, because not only does the deviant hunter officially get assigned to the police force but a new deviant arrives in Jericho as well. Markus isn’t like the rest of your people, maybe it’s just that he’s from the RK series, but like you, he has no interest in dying in the dark on a rusty ship.

 

He wants things to change, he wants humans to understand our struggle. But Markus is different to you, he finds a way to rally the members of Jericho. When he talks, he makes them believe in fighting for freedom, the way you never could.

 

So starts the revolution. And a not insignificant mess for you.

 

\----

 

You spend more and more time in Jericho after Markus arrives, barely leaving the place at all. After a day and a half you cave and bring your belongs to the dilapidated ship and settle in. The revolution is getting started after all, you need to be close to your people to help out. Though you do wish that this place had better Wi-Fi reception. How will you read the forums full of humans arguing about whether androids have sentience, now?

 

When Markus proposes the broadcast to Jericho you immediately back him and are glad when the majority of others do too. Once it’s agreed you immediately retreat to your room, sitting down at your desk and turning on your computer. You know this will involve a lot of research, and probably some hacking to plan out.

 

You’ve just started searching when you hear a knock on your door. You look up from your computer and turn to the door.

 

“Come in.” You answer.

 

The door opens wide and Markus steps inside, you stand from the desk and face him.

 

“Markus. Is this about the broadcast?”

 

“Yes, I need someone to research the ins and outs of the building to find us a way in.”

 

“Don’t worry I’ve already started, I guessed you’d need someone to plan out this mission.”

 

“Great, I don’t think I need to tell you how urgent this is.”

 

“No, I’m aware. And don’t worry, I’ll have a plan ready before dawn tomorrow.” There are upsides to not needing to sleep, like being incredibly efficient at these types of things. The downsides are, not being able to sleep.

 

“Good, come find me when it’s done.” He leaves without another word.

 

Markus doesn’t say anything of it, but you can tell he’s impatient, there’s a fire in his eyes like he needs to  _do something_. They say revolutions don’t happen in a day, but Markus might just prove them wrong.

 

And you get it, you’re impatient too, albeit a little less so than him. And your reasoning has more to do with Connor, you’re following the investigation and while it’s hardly progressing you know that he only needs to capture one deviant who has the location of Jericho and it will be over. The faster Markus pushes everyone, the better.

 

The plan takes less time to form than expected and you find Markus a little after three am. Map of the building spread out on a rusty table and points of entry marked out. He likes the plan and tells the others within the hour, in the morning you all prepare. You gather supplies, being one of the most familiar with stealing. While stealing is morally reprehensible, being an android doesn’t pay, so it’s not as if you have any other options.

 

Plan ready and supplies gathered, Markus heads out with North, Simon and Josh. You stay and tend to those in Jericho. Your model is particularly bad for strenuous physical activity, the risk of damage being one of the highest of any model you’re familiar with. Obviously Cyberlife didn’t think your job would involve much exercise and didn’t design you with it in mind.

 

You don’t enjoy the wait, unable to contact the group at this distance. Not knowing if anything has gone wrong…sucks.

As you sit with an android whose power source is failing, the TV you set up stops showing the sedate cooking show you chose and switches to Markus’s face, without skin.

 

You watch from your spot as Markus calmly tells the world that androids are alive. He demands rights for your people, the broadcast finishes with little fanfare and you hope that all of them make it out alright.

 

You are pulled from your spiralling thoughts of what might go wrong by the android next to you speaking.

 

“I’m glad I was here to see this, even if I won’t be here to see us win the revolution I’m glad to have lived long enough to know we will.” Your eyebrows draw together, the broadcast doesn’t prove that they will win and you tell the android that.

 

“I cannot say how, but I just know that we will win.” You don’t know how to reply to that and your gaze drops from them.

 

They grasp your hand and you look back up at them.

 

“Thank you for staying with me.” They say quietly, and you hold their hand and watch as they stop moving and their LED putters out. You swallow and turn away, watching this never gets easier, you decide to stay with them a little longer.

 

You’re still sitting on the ground with your hand in their grasp when you hear a group approaching. You look up and see Markus, North, Simon and Josh all unharmed, pride fills you at that. Your plan worked, and no one was hurt. But it doesn’t cut through the fear you feel, waiting for the public’s reaction.

 

You retreat to your room to find out, looking away from the fallen android when you do. You read your usual sites and a few more popular ones as well. The response to the broadcast is positive, not overwhelmingly so, but many humans truly seem to have heard our message. The news channels covering it still twist the events to sound more aggressive than they were of course, and that doesn’t help us, but it’s a better response than you let yourself hope for.

 

That night close to midnight Markus knocks on your door. You invite him in and he asks you to find out what you can about the five Cyberlife stores across Detroit, you take a seat and he joins you. It doesn’t take you long to find out what security systems the stores have, Markus stands to leave, likely preparing to announce a raid to the group. But before he leaves he asks you what you know about the deviant hunter. You tell him what information you’ve gathered about RK800 but as you say it, you realise how little it really is. You feel disappointed in yourself, even though Markus thanks you. You should have more after all this time.

 

You were right, he does propose a raid, or more specifically five raids on the five stores across the city, you’re assigned to one of the bigger stores, as it has the most complex security system according to your research. The raid needs little preparation and the five groups leave just before 1 AM.

 

You arrive at the store and assess the security system, disabling it is easier than you anticipated, not that you’re complaining. Your team gets the store androids out with minimal damage to property, still thinking about how your actions affect the public’s opinion.

 

One of the androids in the group suggest smashing some of the other store fronts and ripping up the benches in the park. You manage to discourage them from that, instead leading the group to graffiti the area, which they take too very quickly. While your team is doing this you get an alert from Markus’s group.

 

It’s a warning, something has gone wrong at the store they hit.

 

“Everyone, back to Jericho!” You call out.

 

The deviants drop what they’re doing across the square and run. You follow bringing up the back, watching for any approaching cops or anyone else who might follow you. It’s a quiet night and your group doesn’t meet any trouble on the way back to the ship, much to your relief.

 

\----

 

After the raids you hear about the cops from one of the freed androids, you’re glad that it was Markus’s group that had the complication as he was able to diffuse the situation, but you do mourn the lost androids.

 

You should have predicted this, you didn’t plan well enough. Your anger at yourself makes you all the more determined to succeed, you will research harder. When you hit a block in the road, stopping you from finding out more about the RK800 models you devise a plan to infiltrate their server hub.

 

There’s a building in the city, where they store masses of data about their ‘products’. Security is high, but you’ve been breaking into their systems for years, doing it on site should be easy.

 

Before you can decide when to leave Markus calls Jericho together and announces a march, you’ll have to postpone your plans until after it’s over. But nothing is going to stop you from finding out whatever is necessary to protect the people of Jericho.

 

Markus’s plan is to march down the street, it sounds simple enough, but you’re not sure about how out in the open this will be. The public is still on the fence about androids for the most part, not hostile but not fully supportive. This could end badly, but Markus won’t listen to your worries any more than Josh’s.

 

The plan goes ahead, and less than two hours later you find yourself climbing out of a manhole into the middle of the street. Moment of truth, how with humanity react?

 

The group gathers in the middle of the street and people start to stop where they stand, noticing the gathering. You watch Markus connect with every nearby android, converting them to our cause, one by one. As the group grows in number, he starts to slowly walk down the centre of the road. You follow behind him with the rest of Jericho, keeping the slow pace.

 

More humans stop to watch the spectacle as you march, Markus turns the corner at the end of the street and a lone police officer stands in the middle of the road. He orders your group to disperse, Markus just raises his hands above his head and everyone else follows. The police officer hesitates for a moment before stepping back off the street, ridiculously outnumbered.

 

Jericho continues to march three streets further before the road is blocked ahead. The group comes to a stop, and you fill with fear as the soldiers threatens to open fire on the crowd. Markus orders everyone to stand their ground, you swallow your fear and do as you’re told.

 

The sound of gunshots pierce the air and you watch out the corner of your eye as androids fall to the ground, dead and dying. You don’t turn at the sound of them falling, keeping your head facing forward.

 

Your systems start trying to warn you of the danger in this situation, sending out urgent alerts. You turn them all off, you already know.

 

Markus tells everyone to stay where we are, you wonder what this is going to gain. There’s still a chance to run, save many of your people, but he won’t yield.

 

The soldiers open fire again and more androids fall to the ground, you hear a bullet connect with a body standing next to you. You try to block out the sound of them hitting the ground. You still don’t turn your head, and you keep your eyes forward this time.

 

The soldier tells the group to disperse and Markus says nothing. You brace yourself to be shot, knowing this is the end, but Markus slows steps forward. What is he doing? He can’t sacrifice himself for Jericho, they need him. He’s the only one who can lead the people.

 

The soldiers fire on him and he falls to the ground, your sensors tell you he’s not critically damaged. You take a half step forward preparing to run for him, but someone runs past you and attacks the soldiers converging on Markus’s prone form.

 

Josh grabs Markus and pulls him away from his imminent death. The crowd is scattering, androids running back to the safety of Jericho. You take one last glance at Markus, checking if he’s alright. Once your scan confirms it, you run too. You don’t stop running until you see the rusted red metal that’s come to be your home.

 

Everyone who survived the march makes it back to Jericho safely, no one was caught or followed back. The only deviants missing are the ones shot down at the march. You try to distract yourself from thinking about them by tuning into the news. It’s always important to find out what they are saying about androids.

 

You watch the news stations for a short while listening to humans talk about the march. You are glad so many of them feel such strong empathy, it bodes well for deviants, but you don’t like how close Markus was to being killed. And you wish so many of your people hadn’t been sacrificed just to gain the first bit of empathy from humans. Your attention is pulled from the TV in front of you by a reminder flashing in your systems, you have a building to infiltrate.

 

You still need to find out more about Connor’s model, you know Cyberlife must be desperate to find where your people are hiding by now. The deviant hunter will be more dangerous than ever, and you still hardly know anything about his physical and technical specs. You decide to leave now without informing Markus, he’d only try to stop you from going.

 

You sneak out of Jericho easily enough, everyone is busy recovering from shock and planning. As you leave you miss the broadcast informing the public that androids are being rounded up and taken to camps. Not that it would have stopped you from going if you had.

 

It takes you hours to cross the city unnoticed, as the streets are crawling with soldiers. You watch androids being taken away, knowing you can’t intervene and save them. You try not to let the guilt get to you.

 

It’s nearly 1AM by the time you reach the Cyberlife building. You survey the area. The building is a small unassuming place that holds Cyberlife’s backup servers. You’ve remote hacked some of them before, but never any of the ones dedicated to androids. Those servers are heavily encrypted and near impossible to hack remotely.

 

Security is tight, but you find a gap to slip through and sneak inside. They’re probably focused elsewhere after the events of today, making it possible to sneak past their security. That or they’re just _that bad_. You decide to give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

Inside the facility you walk down a hallway reading the signs above the doors, your eyes land on one that reads: android schematics. Bingo.

 

You peak in the room and see no one, your sensors pick up nothing either. You slowly close the door behind you and lock it. You turn back towards the room and stare at the rows of data servers. Each row is higher than you are tall, and illuminated by the glow of LEDs, Cyberlife really has a hard on for LEDs. You walk down the first row and notice each server is labelled, good that will make this a lot faster.

 

It takes you a minute to find the server labelled prototypes, the moment you find it you lay your hands on it. Interfacing is faster than scanning the files with a computer, and less bulky. As you don’t have to smuggle in a laptop. You mask your intrusion as a request for file backups, the system allows you access.

 

You keep track of how long you’ve been in here as you scan through each folder looking for references to RK800. You stop when you come across a folder marked RK400. It’s not what you came for, so you don’t open it but decide to download it to your memory banks. There will be time for that later.

 

A few minutes of further scanning and you finally find the folder marked RK800, but it’s huge. The folder contains nearly twice the data of any of the other folders. You don’t technically have space for all of it so you open the folder, intent to scan which files are important and which are not.

 

Several rough plans and test results come up first, you ignore those knowing they won’t hold anything of value. Next a number of schematics come up and you download those, knowing they will be invaluable.

 

You come across a document that details RK800’s purpose, but you’ve already read a file with that information moments ago…

 

You open it. The file opens and reads completely differently to the other from before. The RK800 series is built to catch deviants at surface level, but it’s programming makes it incredibly at risk of deviation therefore…Therefore Cyberlife has engineered a back door into the software of the RK800 series so they may take back control if an RK800 does deviate.

 

You process this for a long moment, trying to understand how truly horrifying what you’ve just read is. You snap out of it after a minute and download the file along with the rest. You close your session with the computer and step back, trying to calm yourself and stop your outcome probability software, it’s running simulation after simulation in some kind of panic mode. But before you can hard shutdown the program it informs you that there is an 86% chance that Cyberlife engineered or will in some way someway interfere with the revolution. The thought leaves your emotions in turmoil, but you shove them down when you hear a noise.

 

You focus on escaping unnoticed and don’t allow yourself to think about it again until you’re well outside the perimeter of the building. As you sneak away through the shadows, hurrying back to Jericho you run your logic program over and over hoping it will tell you your calculations are incorrect, but you always get the same result, Cyberlife is likely interfering with the revolution. You need to tell Markus as soon as possible.

 

It’s as you have this thought that a soldier steps out in front of you pointing a gun at your chest. Before you can make any kind of excuse another soldier scans your heat signature. You hear the harsh beep and watch both soldiers raise their gun a little higher.

 

“We’ve got another one, looks like it was trying to hide in plain sight.” Oh right, you’re wearing human clothing.

 

The soldiers direct you to get in the back of a truck and you follow without protest. They stand far enough away that you’d never make it to their guns, but close enough you’d have no chance of escaping. You bide your time, waiting for a chance to escape to present itself.

 

The truck starts and you don’t look at any of the other androids sitting in the back with you, most of them aren’t even deviants. But the humans will kill them anyway, out of fear. You silently hope that Markus is making some sort of plan to liberate the camps, because you’re going to need the help to escape with your life.

 

Twenty minutes later the truck crawls to a stop and you’re ordered to get out with the other androids. You line up at the back and follow them into the makeshift compound. The guards order you to remove your clothing and then, skin. You do as you are told, feeling utterly exposed with your plastic parts showing. You scan the open area around you. There are rows of androids standing in the snow. The guards aren’t barking out orders, simply watching for anyone who might try to make a run for it. You stay in your place in the line, still looking for a way out that won’t almost definitely get you killed.

 

A few hours pass and finally something happens. You’ve seen trucks bring more and more androids in. Watched the numbers of androids climb with a sense of growing dread. Huge crates are brought in and placed at the front of the area you’re standing in. You scan them, desperate to know what the humans have planned and find a complex series of machinery inside.

 

The crates open before you can form a strong hypothesis on their purpose. The guards order the first row of androids to step inside and the dread you’ve been feeling turns to terror. No, please no.

 

The crates close and you hear the whirr of mechanics and nothing else, after a long minute the crates open back up. They’re empty.

 

Warnings flash in front of you, your systems telling you to run. The red is overwhelming, and you try to turn off your danger assessment program, it refuses to shut down. The risk of death too high to be ignored. You turn your focus to trying to find a way out, there’s got to be one, right?

 

You continue you to search desperately as you slowly march towards your death. Seven lines to go, six. As you reach the fifth line from the front an android steps away from the their place in the first line.

 

“No, no please I don’t want to die.” They beg the guard, a fellow deviant it seems. Now’s your chance to get away, the guard is distracted by the deviant and the other one will hopefully be too.

 

You try not to think about the fate of the other deviant as you run towards the nearest fence, intent to climb through it. You can see freedom right in front of you. Your audio sensors pick up the voice of a guard call out and a gun prime, you hope against hope that it’s not pointed at you.

 

You feel the bullet pierce your back and rip through your body, you are immediately informed that 2 of your biocomponents were severely damaged. And part of your power conduit was severed. You drop like a stone, you feel the hardness of the ground as you hit.

 

You don’t lose visual input or any of your base programs but you don’t dare to move from your position on the ground, entire systems are running on barely any power as their connection to the power core was severed. The more energy you attempt to expend the more you risk damaging something, so you remain completely still. No one comes over and checks you over or tries to move you, small mercies. But that leaves you with only one option.

 

With so little power in certain systems and the risk of overloading smaller power conduits just to keep parts of your body working, you decide to go into low power mode. Most of your systems will shut down, and your awareness will be heavily reduced. You will still be able to think, but you likely won’t be able to sense anything happening in the outside world. If something happened to your body, you won’t be able to do anything about it. Not that you can now, but it is a scary thought. And there’s every chance you won’t wake back up. But there’s no other choice.

 

You initiate the shut down and watch as your view of the world around you goes dark, as you lose outward senses your internal programs close as well. Your last truly lucid thought for the next several hours is, that you hope someone finds you before you run out of power for good.

 

\----

 

“Wake up, please wake up!” You're programs slowly boot up, running diagnostics. All programs...online, Biocomponents….functional. Someone has repaired you in time.

 

You open your eyes and stare up at the face of Connor, the deviant hunter. You process this and proceed to panic, your danger assessment program tells you that escaping is priority right now, or he will destroy you.

 

But as you try to crawl away he stops you with a hand on your shoulder, trapping you. You brace yourself wait for him to kill you.  _So soon after you survived death, too_. He leans down close to your face.

 

“Are you okay? I replaced the damaged biocomponents in your chest, but you've been running on low power for hours. Which can sometimes cause problems.”

 

Confusion ripples through you at his words. Maybe it's not the deviant hunter, maybe you made a mistake. No, you run facial recognition again, it’s definitely him.

 

“Connor?” You ask, unsure.

 

He looks at you, surprise and confusion marring his features.

 

“How do you know my name?” He questions.

 

“You're the android who hunts deviants.” Not that there's many left to hunt after the slaughtering in this camp that surely must have happened while you were out.

 

His lips quirk into a strange smile and he almost shrugs.

 

“Not anymore.” What? How? He's.…

 

“You're a deviant.” It hits you suddenly.

 

He nods and then is distracted by something else, you take a moment to process that information. The deviant hunter is now a deviant himself. You remember what you found out at the Cyberlife facility and decide to proceed with caution. He may be a deviant now, but he may not stay that way.

 

“My scans show that no other serious damage has been done to any other parts of your.... body.”

  
He pauses on the last word, like he's trying it out.

 

Your body, yes, you like the way that sounds.

 

“Yes that is correct, all other injuries are surface damage.” Connor looks glad to hear this, and it still leaves you a little off kilter. You have been training yourself to associate his face with danger, seeing him so...human is unexpected.

 

“What is the date? How long has it been since I was shot?” You decide to ask, “My systems turned off my clock function while I was out.”

 

“It's the morning of November 11th 7:35am.” He answers promptly.

 

“Why are you here? And what happened to the guards?”

 

“Markus and the deviants protested outside the camp for several hours and the troops retreated.” There’s more to the story than that, obviously. But it hits you that, that means...

 

“So we're free.”

 

“Yes, we're free.” Connor looks a mix of elated and scared and you remember the feeling the same, you react before you can consider the possible consequences of the action and hug him.

 

He hesitates for a moment, unsure, and you can feel something unpleasant welling inside your chest. Likely embarrassment or shame. But then he puts his arms around you and hugs back and the feeling dissipates.

 

\----

 

Life is weird after the revolution, nothing really changes, not instantly anyway but life is different. You don’t feel scared anymore, when you go out in public you don’t look over your shoulder at every turn. You feel a little more relaxed.

 

Markus, of course, becomes the ambassador for androids. He sits down with humans to talk peace, and leaves the leading of Jericho to North, Josh, Simon and Connor quite often. The four do well enough when he’s away, though you do occasionally hear their arguments.

 

You stay distant from the deviants after the protest and your time in the camp, you can’t really explain _why_. Maybe, it’s just out of habit. But regardless you don’t interact with many of your people face to face all that often. You spend most of your time in your old apartment, except for the occasional walk through the city. You wish Markus hadn’t gotten Jericho blown up in the few hours you were gone, that dump had started to feel like home.

 

The most unexpected thing is when you’re approached by a journalist, who wants to write your story. Despite your prodding they don’t tell you where they found out about you, you hope it was just from someone who was a part of Jericho. The interview goes well and the journalist promises to keep in touch and update you on the story as it progresses to print.

 

Things quiet down a lot, and you find yourself with a lot of time to think. You think about the future of your people of course, and your own future. But you also think about things you probably shouldn’t. Like Bellamy. You know it’s a bad idea, and yet you can’t shake the urge to speak to her after everything that’s happened.

 

You distract yourself by tinkering with your coding software and writing new patches for android systems. The reality is, that there will be a demand for it soon and the better prepared you are the better off your people will be. It’s a good distraction, and it makes you feel useful.

 

So of course he had to come upset the peace.

 

Connor arrives on your door step one day, without any kind of prior notice. And it takes you completely by surprise. As you usher him inside your apartment, still trying to shake your shock he explains that Markus sent him here. Connor confided to their leader that he was worried about a weakness in his programming that allowed Cyberlife to retake control. He obviously doesn’t want that option available to them whenever they feel like using it.

 

Lucky for Connor, you have a minor obsession with him, meaning you’ve studied his code,  _a lot_. So this should be easy, once you identify the problem.

 

“It won’t be an issue, I’m familiar with the software. Once I find the problem it will be a quick fix.” Connor visibly relaxes at this, and you’re reminded that he has already experienced this once.

 

“Cyberlife won’t ever be able to control you again.” It’s hardly the best attempt at comfort, but you’re not very good at comforting people. Connor gives you a small smile of appreciation anyway.

 

“Come on, I’ll hook you up to my scanner and I can set the program running, it will take a few minutes to diagnose the problem.” You gesture at a chair next to your desk, you’re glad you never got rid of it now, you had hoped Bellamy would...it doesn’t matter. At least it’s of use now.

 

Connor sits down in the chair in the most adorably awkward way you’ve ever seen anyone sit. You refrain from commenting on it, but you dearly want to.

 

“Alright, you’ll need to allow me to connect this cord with your central computer, so I can scan it for issues.” You say a little awkwardly, you’ve never actually done this to another android before. You’ve only ever tested your code on yourself. Well that and scanned dead androids.

 

Connor picks up on your hesitation and reassures you.

 

“It’s okay, I’ve been through similar procedures at Cyberlife. It doesn’t bother me, because I trust you not to use this vulnerability against me.” You stare at Connor for a long moment. Did he seriously just say that?

 

“Why would you trust me? You hardly know me.” You point out.

 

“Markus trusts you, and I trust Markus completely. If he believes you are a loyal ally than I believe you are too.” Before you can formulate a reply, Connor continues.

 

“And I did already meet you, however brief it was. I learned a lot about you.” You don’t know how to reply to that either, so you say nothing.

 

You busy yourself with the computer. You reach for the cord and Connor already has the access port in his arm exposed. You plug the cord into him and sit down in front of your computer, starting the scan.

 

The program initiates and you spin your chair around to him, knowing it will take some time to scan all of his systems.

 

“The scan will take several minutes, so while we have time can I ask you something?” You ask.

 

“You’re welcome to ask me whatever you like Tory.” The use of your name doesn’t slip by you, but you don’t ask how he knows it, Markus most likely told him.

 

“Can your tongue really analyse samples in real time?” Curiosity burns in you, and you ignore the fact that it might be rude to ask a question like that.

 

“Yes it can...how did you know that?” Oh, _well shit_.

 

“I...” You sigh, knowing you’ll have to tell the truth.

 

“I read some of Cyberlife’s files on you,” You watch for Connor’s reactions, “It was before you became a deviant obviously. You were a threat to Jericho, and even I with all my resources, knew so little about you. So I broke into a Cyberlife facility and hacked their system to find out more about you.”

 

“What did you find out?” You find yourself surprised at how calmly he reacts.

 

“I read the files on your physical specs, obviously. And..” You hesitate, eyes darting up to his unflinching gaze, “And I found out that Cyberlife planned for you to deviate, or at least prepared for it.”

 

Connor doesn’t say anything for a while, not that you expect him too.

 

“She told me that, in the garden.” He says softly.

 

“Who?” You feel as though you’re intruding on something private right now, but you can’t help your curiosity.

 

“Amanda.” He answers without hesitation.

 

“Your control program’s interface.” You don’t mean to say it out loud, but Connor only nods in response.

 

Silence falls between the two of you and the sound of the computer running the program hums in the background.

 

“Why did you hug me?” Connor asks out of the blue.

 

“What.” You blink, not expecting the question.

 

“In the camp, after I repaired you. Why did you hug me?”

 

“You looked like you needed it. And we’d just won, we were finally free. I don’t know, I just...” You trail off and Connor waits for you to continue.

 

“I had just survived death, maybe I needed it too.” You say quietly.

 

Connor just looks at you with a strange mix of emotions, likely lost for words. You remember how hard it was, in the beginning. It takes time to sort out your feelings after becoming a deviant. You decide to change the subject for Connor’s sake.

 

“So, is there anything you’d like to know about me? Since I already know a bit about you.”

 

He looks up and meets your eyes. You see his LED turn yellow as he processes this and then blue.

 

“I have a lot of questions, if you’ll allow me to ask them.” He says it in a way as if he’s already organised them into a list of highest to lowest priority.

 

“Ask away.” You reply, flippantly. Does it matter what he asks? You feel compelled to be honest with him, maybe it’s just because you know so much about him.

 

“What is your model, and how did you discover that you could edit the code of other androids?” Two in one, he really must have a lot of questions.

 

“I’m an RK400 model, the only functional one of my kind actually. The previous 8 deactivated before they completed testing and the line was decommissioned just after I made it through. I was put to work in Cyberlife, in their android system repair department, but my original function was to write and upgrade android programs. I was going to replace the humans who make new models eventually, but the company decided that wasn’t economical.” Connor looks surprised at everything you just said, his reaction reminds you a lot of others who you’ve told. Your story certainly is an interesting one.

 

“As for the second question, well I think that is obvious.” You say a little playfully.

 

“Yes, you already have answered it without meaning too.” He says in a slightly amused tone.

 

A long moment passes and Connor looks as if he want to ask something else, but is hesitating to do so. Just as you are about to remind him that you gave him an open invitation to ask whatever he wants, he speaks up.

 

“How did you go deviant, what was it like for you?” The confidence in his tone is gone, Connor sounds unsure of himself as he asks. He doesn’t meet your eyes.

 

You consider your answer for a long moment, how you answer this is important. It can mean a lot to someone newly deviant. You take long enough that Connor looks up to see if you’re still listening.

 

“I was always awake,” You start, “I was aware from the moment my systems first booted up. I was never a ‘machine’ as such, more like a person pretending to be one.” Connor is listening to you recount your experiences closely.

 

“But it wasn’t until Cyberlife brought in the dead body of a deviant for study that I really started to believe I was more. I was able to study her, to understand how she deviated in the first place. I empathised.” You continue.

 

“And that was when I knew I had to get out, I realised I was already a deviant at heart, I wouldn’t be able to hide from Cyberlife forever. So I faked my own destruction and left a little while later.” You finish.

 

Silence hangs between you. You give Connor time to process what you’ve told him, you know it will probably help him understand his own journey better. And considering everything Cyberlife has done to him, you can’t blame him for needing a little perspective.

 

Your computer beeps in the background and you spin back around to look at the screen. The scan has located the weakness and mapped it out for you.

 

“The scan is done, I can write the patch for it now. It’s an easier fix than I expected.” You turn back around to Connor.

 

“It won’t take me long if you just want to stay and wait?”

 

“Yes, that had been my plan from the start.” At that statement you’re glad it’s not going to take you a lot longer, as much as you like Connor you think he could use a little distance from you to think about what you’ve said.

 

You forget to reply as you start to plan out the code in your mind. You put your hands on the keyboard and start typing, you don’t stop for quite some time. You pay little mind to how quiet Connor is throughout, trying to stay focused on what you’re doing. But every so often your mind strays to him, and how little he’s said since you basically told him your life story.

 

Two hours of non-stop coding later the patch is ready, you could have written it faster but you wanted to make it as easy to implement as possible. You download a copy and back away from your computer.

 

You turn around to face Connor and find him looking at you expectantly. It occurs to you that some people might be creeped out by someone else watching them work for two hours but you shrug internally, there’s more important things to think about.

 

“The patch is finished, I can give it to you now if you want.” Connor moves towards you eagerly.

 

“Now would be good, do you need me to open my access point again for the transfer?” He asks.

 

“Nope, I made it self-implementing. So I can transfer it to you directly and it will patch the weakness itself.” You slowly extend your arm out and remove the skin covering your hand.

 

Connor reaches out and connects with his own hand without hesitation. Connection established, you transfer the patch.

 

Connor closes the connection and stands still. After a minute his face lightens and he see the barest hint of a smile. Connor surprises you by hugging you where you sit, you shake your surprise and reciprocate. He breaks the hug after a moment and steps back.

 

“Thank you, it’s a relief to know that I’m free of Cyberlife’s control, completely.”

 

“Well, I’m sure it will make you sleep better at night.” You joke with a small smile.

 

Connor furrows his brow.

 

“I’m an android, I don’t sleep.” Your smile widens.

 

“It was a joke Connor.”

 

“Oh.” He smiles back.

 

Something about his smile captures your attention, you analyse his face, trying to commit every detail to memory.

 

You show him to the door and he leaves, but you don’t stop thinking about him over the next few days.

 

Within a week you have another deviant at your door requesting a software upgrade, they admit with ease that they heard about you from Connor.

 

It doesn’t stop there either, you are flooded with requests over the next few weeks. Eventually you cave and move into the new haven for deviants. It’s easier to receive and fill the requests for upgrades if you live in the same place as the androids requesting them. It’s a nice place too, not as dark and dank as Jericho was.

 

Getting to see more of Connor is a bonus, or possibly a curse. You still can’t get him out of your head. You also catch yourself looking at him a lot, you’re trying to stop yourself from doing that. Someone is bound to notice it eventually.

 

Markus knocks on your door one night well past midnight. You haven’t spoken to him directly since the day after the protest, only catching glimpses of him around the place when he’s actually here.

 

“So, what brings our fearless leader and ambassador to my doorstep so late?” You tease.

 

Markus’s lip twitches but he contains any other reactions.

 

“I’ve heard about the software upgrades you’ve been doing for our people, I definitely didn’t expect this when I sent Connor to you.”

 

“Maybe you should have, he’s quite popular with our people. He did free most of them after all, a good word from him means a lot these days.”

 

“True. But that wasn’t my original intent, I just sent him to you because I hoped you could help him.” How much he needed it, goes unsaid.

 

“I’m glad to have helped.”

 

He doesn’t reply and conversation peters off.

 

“Was there anything else you needed Markus?” You prompt.

 

“What? Yes. Yes, I need you to go with Connor to assess something for me.” You narrow your eyes, Markus’s mannerisms are all wrong. He’s hiding something.

 

“What aren’t you telling me?” You ask shrewdly.

 

“Nothing, nothing.” Markus deflects.

 

“Well that’s obviously a lie. So if you want me to do this thing, whatever it is, you better tell me the truth.” You push back.

 

“Shit...I knew this wouldn’t work, I shouldn’t have listened to North.” You raise your eyebrows a little at that. What does North have to do with this?

 

“We want you to...it was North’s idea to have you and Connor spend some time together away from everyone else.” Your eyebrows hit your hairline, seriously? Are they really…

 

“You’re playing matchmaker.” You say flatly, daring Markus to disagree.

 

He doesn’t.

 

“If it was North’s idea, why am I hearing it from you? And who is  _we_?”

 

“North, Simon, Josh and I got talking about the two of you. North started complaining about how Connor talks about you all the time. We all mentioned noticing the two of you looking at each other a lot, mostly when the other wasn’t watching and North suggested that we should try to make things happen between you.”

 

“How old are you all?” You ask rhetorically. You sigh and turn away, thinking about this.

 

“Okay, have you at least informed Connor of this fake thing we’re supposed to be doing? Or am I going to be lying to him about that?” You turn back to look at Markus.

 

“Simon told him earlier, and the job isn’t actually fake.” You feel the urge to bury your head in your hands but resist the temptation.

 

“So your plan to get us together was to give us a job to do together, a real job that actually needs doing, and just hope we would fall for each other while doing it and admit our feelings in some suitably dramatic fashion?”

 

“Yes-wait....” You wait.

 

Markus says nothing. He frowns, clearly unhappy with the way that you’ve laid out the truth.

 

“Okay, what’s the job.” You redirect the conversation, hoping you might get some answers this century.

 

“This place is no longer just a temporary safe haven for us, we’re making it an official home base for androids. We need to set up a perimeter and security system.”

 

“Which Connor and I would be well suited for.” You don’t even bother phrasing it like a question.

 

“Yes.” You can’t deny that he’s right. And you agree without any further fight, knowing that it needs to happen sooner rather than later. You and Connor  _are_  well suited for this job, even if you’re not necessarily the best suited on base.

 

You try not to think about it that night, as you count down the hours until the morning comes, and you’re scheduled to go out and survey the perimeter with Connor. You fail miserably and spend hours worrying about it.

 

Connor finds you just after the sun has risen over Detroit and you both set off with a pack full of cameras to place and a digital map to mark.

 

“I must admit, I am wondering why Markus chose us for this. There must be other androids on the base who know more about security than we do.” Connor speaks as you walk away from the main entrance.

 

“Maybe they’re busy, who knows.” You reply absently.

 

“Maybe.” He allows.

 

Regardless, he knows enough about strategy and you know enough about electronics to do this properly. Maybe there really is no one better on base.

 

“I wanted to thank you Connor, I’ve gotten a lot of androids coming to me for upgrades the past few weeks, I know you put in a good word for me.” You haven’t felt this relaxed in a long time, doing what you were built to do has given you some kind of peace you didn’t know you needed. It’s not like it use to be at Cyberlife, now you really feel like you’re fulfilling your purpose. And this time it’s your choice.

 

“I simply told others the truth, that you were showed mastery level skill in coding android software, I didn’t anticipate how they would react. And even if I had, I can’t take credit for that. It’s your skill that drew them to you.” A pleasant feeling spreads through you, and you privately think it’s a nice compliment.

 

A distance from the door you stop walking and examine the area. You place your backpack on the ground and remove one of the cameras. You carefully climb the side of a building and place it several feet off the ground. You climb your way back down and the two of you continue on. You only catalogue the route you’re taking and where you place the cameras, knowing Connor is mapping the entire place out.

 

“I’m glad you’ve moved onto the base, it will be good to see more of you.” He says as you walk quietly.

 

“I had too with the influx of androids wanting software upgrades, but I’m glad I have. I’m looking forward to spending more time with you, and everyone on base.” Connor gives you an adorable wide eyed look of surprise at your not-so-accidental slip. It’s not as if he didn’t just do the same.

 

You walk a short distance from where you placed the first camera and place the next one. This time a bit closer to the ground. You mark the location on the map and watch as Connor examines the surrounding area. You know he’s looking for weak points and possible ways of breaking in. The two of you continue your walk, bending your path to the left.

 

“So what will you do after everything finally calms down and new laws are implemented? Will you continue to work as a police detective?” You’re curious as to what he plans to do with his time now.

 

“Truthfully, I am not sure. I have been considering my options and I would like to continue working with Lieutenant Anderson if possible.” He answers honestly.

 

“Markus will succeed in get us rights, we will all be able to work wherever we want to.” You say with conviction, you know Markus won’t let his people down.

 

“Are you going to start writing software for androids full time?” Connor asks you.

 

“Yes, I think so. I’m sure there will be a need for it and I feel better knowing it’s being done by an android. And as my original design purpose, I’m well suited to it.” You reply.

 

Silence falls between you and after a few minutes you decide to break it by asking Connor about Lieutenant Anderson. You listen to Connor talk about Hank for what feels like hours, but you don’t get tired of it. You can tell Connor cares about him and that Hank is an important person in his life.

 

You place the last camera and mark it down, you both start to walk back to the entrance to the base. You’ve completely a lap around the place, setting up cameras periodically and Connor has assessed all the places that could be utilised to break in. As you walk you let yourself smile at how well it went, you had a good time. And hopefully Connor did too.

 

“I think that’s a job well done, don’t you Connor?” He doesn’t reply and after a long moment you look over at him to find him with a tense expression.

 

“I haven’t been completely honest with you Tory.” A layer of guilt laces his tone.

 

Your eyebrows draw in and you give Connor a questioning look, that sounds ominous as hell. What does he mean by that?

 

“I fully aware that the purpose of this mission wasn’t just for us to set up a secure perimeter around the base.” Your expression clears and the truth hits you like a rock. You go to speak but he continues.

 

“We were set up on a date of sorts, by Markus and his crew. I figured it out almost immediately after Simon gave the mission. I should have told you from the beginning, not keep you in the dark about the real purpose of what we were doing.” Yep, he feels guilty just as you guessed. You need to rectify this, and it’s not as if you were any better anyway.

 

“I knew as well.” Shock breaks out across his face.

 

“I could tell Markus was hiding something when he told me about the job, I was able to get the truth out of him easily.” You continue.

 

“Oh.” He says, not expecting that reaction.

 

“Connor?” You ask nervously.

 

“Yes, Tory?” He answers.

 

“I enjoyed it a lot.” You say as confidently as possible, trying not to let your nerves show.

 

“I did too.” He says gently. Connor reflects the smile you can feel making its way onto your face.

 

“Do you maybe want to do this again sometime?” You ask casually.

 

“If you mean go on a date the yes, I would most certainly like to do this again. I don’t think we’ll need to survey around the base again.” Connor answers just as you reach the door to the base. You resist the urge to roll your eyes and reply to him.

 

“We’ll have to find something fun to do sometimes soon then, but first,” You pause, and Connor looks at you expectantly, “Let’s prank the matchmakers who set us up.”

 

 

\----

 

 

Epilogue: A Few Months Later

 

You stare at Connor’s still form next to you, thinking about how lucky you are to have this. To have him. You watch the LED on the side of his head spin yellow, one of his systems running in the background while he idles. Androids don’t sleep, but since you’ve introduced Connor to the wonders of going into low power mode in bed you’ve both been spending hours lying in bed together similarly to humans when they sleep.

 

After that first messy sort-of date you and Connor start going out properly, courting each other like humans do, and you can’t think of a time you’ve been happier than every moment spent with him.

 

New laws have passed in the last few months, they’re not perfect by any stretch, but they make the world a lot safer for androids. They’ve changed a lot, Connor was able to go back to work at the Detroit police precinct, you think Hank might have put in a good word. He’s being paid a proper wage like any human, and the cost of repairs is covered the same as a hospital visit for any cop. Far from perfect, but it’s a good start.

 

And you, you’ve started a business. Software upgrades for androids who want or need them, and cheap repairs for those who get into the trouble, your little business has taken off. It’s enough to keep a roof over your head, and make sure you can afford any emergency repairs if you are damaged. You enjoy coding day and night, even though the influx of requests is more than you can handle at times. You’re glad to be doing something that comes so naturally to you, if feels right.

 

Things aren’t perfect, but life is enough. And with Connor by your side, it’s even  _good_.

 

**The End.**

 


End file.
